United States: The US President Mr. Joe Biden and Dutch Prime Minister Mr. Mark Rutte have held a meeting at the White House to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the protection of supply chains, and the upcoming Summit for Democracy, which will be hosted by the two countries along with Costa Rica, South Korea, and Zambia.

The meeting included a discussion on Dutch concerns about new US restrictions on exporting chip-making technology to China. “It did come up in their conversation,” White House press secretary Ms. Karine Jean-Pierre commented after the talks.

“The two leaders discussed the importance of secure supply chains as well as critical technologies to our national security and economic prosperity,” the statement released after the talks remarked.

Mr. Rutte informed the US President of Dutch plans to offer the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine, working together with Germany on an initiative to help Ukraine defend itself from a barrage of missile attacks from Russia.

“I think that it’s important that we join that, and I discussed it also this morning with Olaf Scholz of Germany,” the Dutch PM shared.

The US President remarked that he looked forward to discussing ways to strengthen the supply chain as he welcomed the prime minister to the White House. Mr. Biden further thanked Mr. Rutte for being “very, very stalwart” in his support for Ukraine.

According to Mr. Rutte, the Netherlands has decided to spend an additional $2.70 billion (2.5 billion euros) supporting Ukraine, an announcement the government made previously.

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